Important parking-related question.

[noblegiraffe]

Our driveway fits two cars on it, one after the other.

DS was being given a lift and asked which car he should get in. To make it easy logistically, I said 'whichever is at the back'. Meaning: whichever is closest to the road, the one that was driven in last.

DH said 'that doesn't make any sense, the one nearest the road is at the front'. It will be driven out first.

So I countered with 'I drove in behind you, I'm at the back'.

And he said 'If you'd reversed in, you'd be in front'.

How the hell am I supposed to tell DS which car to get in from its position?

How old is DS? Surely you would get in the one nearest the road?
In terms of your argument I’d say the one nearest the road was ‘in front’ but I can see both sides.

I said the car nearest the road is the one at the front, whichever way it’s facing, because that’s the one that has to move first, and also because the front of my house is the side nearest the road, so it makes sense to me that the front of the drive (and so the front car) is the same

Not that simple as sometimes he'll need to get in the one furthest from the road and the other driver will move the one nearest out of the way.

But if you drive in forwards, then surely you would say that you are behind the car in front of you.

It does depend if you are at the house or the road
however if was in the house I’d say the car in the front. Though it ought to be obvious because clearly the car behind isn’t getting out unless the other does too

Tell him 'last in, first out' and that he doesn't need his mum to tell him which one that is

"The blue one"

Then say ‘Dad’s car’ or whatever.

To me whichever object or person arrived last - is at the back

so the last car to reverse or drive onto a driveway, is in fact last and at the back

Ours is dads car or mums car

Agree with your DH. But I'd just name the car

The situation here is that I cannot remember which one is nearest the road and want to describe it merely by its position, I will be giving him a lift in whichever one is logistically easier to get off the drive.

Do you not have windows?

Our cars do have names! But I am not directing him to a specific car, I am directing him to whichever car is nearest the road, which could be either of them.

Just say 'the o e nearest the road' . Although surely you need to know which one so you pick up the correct keys?

The red one. The blue one. The green one. Dads car. My car. The ford. The Citroen

Non issue btw!!

Going to look at the cars defeats the point of this question, which is to describe them by position.

Get in the car nearest the road

Why can we not decide which is at the front and which is at the back?

When you drive home first you went into the back position. The 2nd person getting home is in the front position. The front car would be the one closest to the road

But why do you want to describe them by position? I really think I’ve missed the point here.

There is no definitive.

It's variable depending on variables.

You have to pick a landmark - for example, the house.

So nearest or furthest from house.

To me back would be nearest the house, front would be nearest the road, regardless of whether they were reversed in or driven forward. The one nearest the road has to move first, so it's at the front of the line, so to speak.

I will be giving him a lift in whichever one is logistically easier to get off the drive.

Not that simple as sometimes he'll need to get in the one furthest from the road and the other driver will move the one nearest out of the way.

We'll make your mind up